Emily and Mary Edmonson’s faith and freedom

10__Asbury UMC DC

Emily and Mary Edmonson’s faith and freedom

Asbury United Methodist Church (UMC) is the oldest Black Methodist church in the city, founded in 1836. In its current location since 1870, the church has been a cornerstone of the Black community. Notable members include Mary Church Terrell (see ch. 97), who used the church as a meeting place in the 1940s for an interracial coalition; Mary McLeod Bethune (see ch. 56), who petitioned Franklin D. Roosevelt to recognize the church’s centennial in 1936; and two sisters, whose family helped to found the congregation and who would be part of a daring escape attempt.

On April 15, 1848, 77 enslaved people in DC slipped out into the night, heading for The Pearl, a small ship docked at the southwest waterfront wharf, in a quest for freedom. The voyage would sadly be a short one. The ship only managed to get 140 miles up the Potomac River before weather forced the vessel to drop anchor. By then, a steamer ship was on its way, carrying a mob of white men, who would force those aboard back into slavery.

Among those attempting escape was the Edmonson family, with two teenage sisters Emily and Mary. When an angry crowd taunted The Pearl’s passengers as they exited the ship, Emily shouted in defiance that they would do it all again. Emily and Mary were sold to a slave trading firm in Alexandria, Virginia for $750 each and sent to New Orleans. Fortunately, their father was able to raise over $2000 to purchase their freedom.

The sisters would become well known in the abolitionist movement. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published a chapter on the sisters in her nonfiction account of slavery and paid for both of them to attend Oberlin College. Sadly, Mary died of tuberculosis at age 20, but Emily would return to DC, live near her friend Frederick Douglass in Anacostia, and later assist educator Myrtilla Miner in establishing the city’s first high school for Black students.

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Address 926 11th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, +1 (202) 628-0009, www.asburyumcdc.org, asburymail@asburyumcdc.org | Getting there Metro to Metro Center (Blue, Orange, Red, and Silver Line); bus 64, G8 to 11th & K Streets NW | Hours See website and services | Tip Sip on something rare from Pearl Fine Tea, founded by Elise Scott in 2007. She became the first certified tea master in DC by the Specialty Tea Institute. Her tasty teas are stocked at a variety of local farmers’ markets (www.pearlfineteas.com).